On the east side of Mt Washington, nestled between Raymond Cataract to the south and Nelson Crag to the north, you’ll find a beautiful cirque named Huntington Ravine. Find it on an AMC topo map and you see a lot of closely-spaced 100-foot contour lines indicating steepness. You’ll also note a red line making its way through this cirque. This is a “hiking trail” and it’s the safest passage through this ravine. Anything outside of that red line is best addressed by rock climbers — or ice climbers and extremely skilled skiers in the winter. Seeing the red line on the map assures hikers it is possible to transit those contour lines. In person there is no red line, however, though the way is roughly marked with 2″x6″ yellow paint blazes. People do lose track if them now and then, though, getting off trail. And getting in trouble sometimes. It can happen to even experienced hikers so the smartest hikers hedge their bets and hire a guide. That’s where we come in.
We had two fellows reach out hoping to do just that. Both were quite experienced having hiked the 48 4000-footers, a Winter ascent of Mt Washington, a single day Presidential Traverse, a single day Pemi Loop, and several trails on the Terrifying 25 (T-25) list. Moreover, they also had climbs outside the region under their belts to include Mt Rainier, the Olympic Mountains, and even a trek in Nepal. That they wanted to hire a guide told us that not only were they very accomplished, but that they were also smart. We asked Redline Guide Will Murphy on it feeling that he was a great choice. We figured in the worst case, they’d have a lot to talk about as they compared notes.
What follows are some photos of their successful ascent on this beautiful day with cooperating weather. The bulk of the photos were provided by Will, but there are a couple of guest images thrown into the mix. Enjoy.
